Responsa for Sanhedrin 122:2
ומתני' כאן ביחיד הניסת כאן ברבים הניסתים יחיד לא מימלך וטעי בתריה רבים מימלכי ולא טעו בתריה
The two Mishnahs however are to be reconciled thus: The first Mishnah refers to a multitude who were seduced; the second to an individual. For an individual will not reconsider his resolve, hence he will surely go astray after the seducer; but a multitude do reconsider [because they discuss it with each other], and will therefore not go astray after the seducer.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Therefore in their case guilt is incurred only for actual worship; but in the case of a single individual the mere declaration is punishable. ');"><sup>2</sup></span>
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. Are the women among the group of forced converts from Rockenhausen who escaped from their captors, permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands?
A. Nowadays that the Gentiles are all powerful, a Jewish woman who was held captive by them, even though only for the purpose of extortion, is not permitted to live with her husband (Ket. 27b). But, since in this case many Jews were held captive together, they are now able to testify which women were not violated by their captors; such women who can furnish this testimony, even by a single witness and even by a woman witness, are permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands. The fact that the captives did not give their lives for their religion does not disqualify them as witnesses. Although a Jew is enjoined to choose death rather than be forced to worship idols, should he violate this law he would not become disqualified as a witness though he would be guilty of having committed a sin. Moreover, according to the account given by the captives, they never actually embraced Christianity, but merely listened without comment to the priest's recitation of his senseless ritual in the presence of the Gentiles. Thus, the captives never committed a sin; for a Jew is not enjoined to choose death rather than allow the Christians to deceive themselves into believing that they have converted him.
SOURCES: Am II, 80; cf. Hag. Maim., Isurei Biah 18, 6.
A. Nowadays that the Gentiles are all powerful, a Jewish woman who was held captive by them, even though only for the purpose of extortion, is not permitted to live with her husband (Ket. 27b). But, since in this case many Jews were held captive together, they are now able to testify which women were not violated by their captors; such women who can furnish this testimony, even by a single witness and even by a woman witness, are permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands. The fact that the captives did not give their lives for their religion does not disqualify them as witnesses. Although a Jew is enjoined to choose death rather than be forced to worship idols, should he violate this law he would not become disqualified as a witness though he would be guilty of having committed a sin. Moreover, according to the account given by the captives, they never actually embraced Christianity, but merely listened without comment to the priest's recitation of his senseless ritual in the presence of the Gentiles. Thus, the captives never committed a sin; for a Jew is not enjoined to choose death rather than allow the Christians to deceive themselves into believing that they have converted him.
SOURCES: Am II, 80; cf. Hag. Maim., Isurei Biah 18, 6.
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